The Devil Be Blind
by Grumbling Geek
Summary: Charlie, an aspiring photojournalist, is rescued one night by a masked stranger and tossed into a world she never knew existed (or really wanted to be a part of) only to realize that telling the truth isn't always as easy as it sounds.
1. Chapter 1: Stapleton

Charlie was late.

Charlie was _always_ late.

She sprinted out of the subway tunnel and whirled around at street corner trying to gather her bearings. _Where the hell am I?_ She focused on a sign hanging above an old grocery store that read:

Jacob's

Hell's Kitchen's Number One Stop for Fresh Produce

Charlie glanced in the window at the flies that buzzed over Jacob's 'fresh' produce.

"Fresh produce my ass," she muttered as she whipped out her phone to bring up Google Maps. Judging by the map, she should be near the building where the interview to determine the rest of her future was to be held. And she would be late. Of course.

She scurried across the street in the general direction of where the map had indicated while trying to ruthlessly calm her unruly hair into some semblance of a ponytail.

"Stop, misbehaving. I _grew_ you. Don't be so ungrateful." She whispered to herself as she rounded a corner and stopped dead in her tracks.

There it was.

Stapleton's Newspaper.

Only the best the city had to offer in undercover journalism and what Charlie hoped would kick start her career into the world of photojournalism.

Or you know, reject her for being late to her interview and kick her to the curb to live out the rest of her life as a starving artist begging for scraps outside of Greenwich Village.

I mean, whatever works.

Charlie glanced at her phone: 6:39. _Shit._ The interview was supposed to start at 6:30. She pulled open the heavy glass doors and practically ran to the receptionists desk not even stopping to enjoy the beautiful interior of the classic brick building.

"Hi, umm, Hello, Charlotte Evedyn. I'm here for an interview with a-" She rummaged through her messenger back and pulled out a scrap of paper. "-a Mr. Renner?" She hoped her face wasn't too flushed from the wind and the New York winter but she assumed she probably resembled a mad woman fighting for her sanity.

The receptionist glanced over her large framed glasses and raised a pristine eyebrow. "You're late."

"I know. And I am very sorry. I'm new to the city and it was much harder to navi-"

"Upstairs. 8th floor. Take two lefts and walk down the skyhall. His room is the 4th on the right."

"Yes, of course, thank you!"

Charlie sped to the closest elevator and pressed a rather large button for the 8th floor. Elevator music began to play. It was horrendous. She took this opportunity to glance at the reflective walls to take in what she assumed was a messy and windswept version of the outfit she most meticulously put together earlier that day. Her high-waisted black dress pants had cat hair scattered throughout and the blue blouse she had thrown on was wrinkled and limp. Her thick and curly mahogany hair was frizzing from the humidity on the city streets and was sticking up in places it really should have behaved. Her pale skin made her grey blue eyes stand out amidst a sea of freckles splattered across her nose and cheekbones. The only makeup she had bothered to put on was mascara and some light pink lipstick that she hoped was improving her rushed appearance instead of looking like she was a ghost.

The elevator reached the 8th floor all to quick and Charlie sighed. _Here goes nothing._ She walked to Mr. Renner's office with what she hoped was a portraying confident posture and not the bundle of nerves she felt in her stomach. She took a deep breath and rapped three times on his door and heard the crisp "Come in."

His office was large with a view of a street that allowed her to see a bit of the Manhattan skyline. The sun was already setting and she knew the temperature would be steadily dropping. It was going to be a cold December, definitely not like the ones she was used to in North Carolina. Mr. Renner himself looked to be a man in his mid sixties with a gentle smile and a well groomed suit. His circle glasses gave him the look of a wise owl and his blue eyes crinkled when he saw Charlie stumble a bit in her unfamiliar heels.

"Ah, you must be Miss. Evedyn?" His voice was friendly as she straightened herself, recovering from her stumble and approached him with an outstretched hand.

"Yes, sir. I'm sorry I'm late. I promise I'm not usually late." Only a white lie. Charlie barely ever made it somewhere on time. It was a fatal flaw. Mr. Renner took her hand firmly in his own and gave it a brisk shake.

"It's fine, you're not that late. Did you bring a portfolio?"

"Of course!" She pulled a black folder from her messenger back and set it on his desk.

"Please, sit, Miss. Evedyn."

As Charlie took a seat in a dark leather chair she studied Mr. Renner's face as he sifted through her life's work. Years of photography schooling and thousands of dollar later Charlie had graduated from a prestigious art school in North Carolina and taken a leap of faith when she hopped on a train to New York city hoping to kick start a career in photojournalism somewhere where the news actually relayed the truth. After hours of research she discovered that Stapleton's was one of the few companies in the city that actually worked to get accurate and timely stories out to their readers. It seemed to be a great place to start on her journey that would hopefully end with her running her own company one day.

"I'm impressed. These are extraordinary. I've never seen pictures this detailed. You must tell me how you got access to the Mattherhorn Estate? I thought it was banned from the press?"

Charlie felt her face go red. "It was, I umm, _acquired_ access to the facility and once I was inside it was fairly easy to get where I needed to go. They put all of their focus on the barriers, there really wasn't much security inside." She hoped he didn't ask her to elaborate on her knowledge of fortresses. That was a conversation not meant for her first interview.

"Acquired?"

"Yeah, I did a lot of rock climbing and parkour when I was in college. It just kinda-" Charlie waved her hand in the air, "- _came_ to me." She let out a nervous smile, hoping he wouldn't think to much about her means to an end.

"Ah, I see. Well, sometimes you have to get your hands a bit dirty to get to the truth. You've impressed me, Miss. Evedyn. I would like to see how you work with my team. We have assembled some of the most talented journalists and photographers from different backgrounds and ambitions and I think you would fit perfectly. When can you start?"

Charlie's mouth dropped open. She quickly closed it and shook her head a moment. "Anytime. Tomorrow. Tonight. I have no plans." She blurted before her mind had time to tell her to shut up.

Mr. Renner chuckled. "Well, Miss. Evedyn-"

"Charlie." she interrupted. " You, er, can call me Charlie."

"Well, Charlie. I will see you here tomorrow, 9am. Sharp." He raised his eyebrow as if to challenge her to be late again. _Hell no ,_ she thought. _Tomorrow begins the first day of the rest of my life._


	2. Chapter 2: The Alley

_Rrrring._

 _Rrrrring._

 _Rrrrrrring._

"Hello?" A female voice answered the call and Charlie grinned as she hurried along the city streets on her way home from the interview.

"Gen, you are never gonna believe it, I got the job!" Charlie screamed into the receiver. She could picture Genevieve sitting on their couch at home holding the phone away from her ear and scowling. Something she did often when Charlie was around.

"How? You can't even adult right."

" Hey! I only put wax paper in the oven that _one time._ " Charlie was not about to let Gen's attitude bring her down. This was it. This was her big break.

"Reeeowww-"

"Is that Jabberwocky? _Does he miss his mommy, put him on the phone the little baby-_ " Charlie's voice had taken on a high-pitched baby squeal as she attempted to communicate to Jabber on the other side of the line but Gen was having none of that.

"Charlie, if you do not desist from whispering sweet nothings to our cat I will stab you in the eye."

Ah, Genevieve. A star model for the perfect roommate.

"Well, anywho, I should be home shortly, do you need anything from the store?" Charlie was a few blocks from the apartment yet she was enjoying the crisp night air and had no intentions of going straight home yet. At least not unless she was armed with pastries and alcohol to pacify Genevieve's horrendous attitude.

"Nah, Finn brought over some cupcakes earlier in a desperate attempt for me to get back together with him. I proceeded to tell him off about his awful habits and ungodly smell before kicking him out of the apartment. Kept the cupcakes though. That shit is good." Charlie could almost hear Gen's smirk at the fact that she had outwitted yet another member of the male species with her startling good looks and charm. The sound of a scream echoed in the background and Charlie groaned.

"Are you watching Criminal Minds again?"

"Yeah they're helping me find good places to dispose of your body if you keep shaving your legs in the sink."

"Don't hate." Charlie rounded the last curb towards home and approached the alley that she typically took to get home faster. It was darker than usual tonight because one of the lamps had flickered out for the last time. "Look, Gen, I gotta go I'm almost home. Can you boil some water for some potatoes?"

"I am not contributing to your potato addiction."

"Ah, ah, ah. It's not an addiction. It's a lifestyle."

Genevieve hung up the phone.

The wind whipped around Charlie and she pulled her coat tighter around her. Usually, a dark alley would seem like a bad idea but Charlie was so ecstatic about being able to pay the bills that she figured she would be fine. It wasn't until she was halfway through the alley that she noticed the men following her.

There was three of them. All clad in black with ski masks drawn over their heads. That would be your first clue right? Charlie pretended not to notice and quickened her pace keeping her eyes on the lit street just barely out of her reach. If she didn't show fear, perhaps the men wouldn't speed up to chase her. Perhaps they'd let her go.

She was wrong.

By the time the first man broke out into a run, Charlie dropped her bag and sprinted towards the light. A part of her was hoping that he would abandon the chase and go straight for her bag but clearly this man wasn't after any money.

He wanted her.

Despite years of parkour, Charlie was not fast enough to outrun a grown adult male. He lunged for her and grabbed her around the waist tackling her to the ground with a grunt. His hand was over her mouth before she had time to react and he flipped her over onto her back, straddling her over her hips to keep her pinned to the ground. The other two men ran to catch up patting the first man on the back congratulating him for snatching her.

"The boss is gonna be happy we caught 'er so easily. We can finish this thing before it gets started. Jones, phone the others. Let them know we got 'er." One of the man standing announced as we leaned down towards Charlie's face until she could smell his rank breath on her cheek. "Well, ain't you a pretty one?"

"Think we can have some fun with her before they show up?" The man straddling Charlie let his eyes wander down from her face and rest on her breasts which were showing a little more than they should through her lowcut blouse. _Oh hell no,_ Charlie thought, _I'd die first._

But clearly she didn't have much of a say. Despite her thrashing around the man on top of her began unzipping his pants while the others claimed that they would stand guard. When Charlie nailed him once in the face with her fist she received a harsh blow to the head that sent her spinning and he pinned her arms as he lifted himself off her and put himself into position. Charlie thrusted upward as hard as she could when the weight left her hips and screamed at the top of her lungs when he released her mouth to hold her down. The warranted her another hard hit to the head and the tying of a dirty rag around her mouth to keep her from screaming. Clearly he saw that she wasn't going to make this easy for him and he lifted her up and tied her hands over her head and to a fire escape ladder from one of the buildings. The knots dug into her wrists and she bit back a sob. _I will not cry,_ Charlie thought, _he will not get that satisfaction._ She glared at him as he pulled down first her pants, then his own.

"I would say that this won't hurt, sweetheart, but it will." He whispered into her ear, his breath stank of eggs and Charlie gagged. If she had the ability to spit on him, she would. Instead she settled for glaring and wiggling around so it was harder for him to get a good grip on her.

"Stop _moving."_ He grunted as he finally pinned her against the wall. Despite herself Charlie's eyes wandered down to his boxers to find a hard lump against the front. She felt nauseous and it wasn't from the blow to the head. The man had began to work his way between her thighs and was working his hand up to her panties when there was a shout from one of the other two men and Charlie looked up to see him running towards them from the other side of the alley.

"Hank! Get out of there! Run! He's here! He's found us!" The man was frantic, waving his arms over his head. The man who was currently groping her butt- Hank- turned to look at the runner and that was all Charlie needed. She thrusted upward with all her strength nailing him in the groin and when he doubled over she kneed him in the face. He crumbled forward clutching his nose and yelling.

"Damn, bitch!" He straightened up and raised his fist to hit her when a black blur shot down from the roof and landed on his back. Charlie struggled to get the weight off her arms by standing on her tip toes but there was no way she could free her hands from the bonds. The man in black quickly took out Hank and began to chase down the other men. One pulled a gun but he quickly disabled him and drop kicked him in the face, rendering him unconscious. The last man tried to make a run for it but the man in black had him down in a matter of seconds. Finally, he turned his attention to Charlie.

The alley was silent except for the typical city noises of sirens and shouting as the man approached her. She was suddenly all too aware of the vulnerable position she was in and felt her body tense. If it came to a fight, she would give it her best shot. As he got closer she saw he had a hat pulled down over his eyes and was wearing a simple long sleeved black shirt and pants. _How the hell does he see with that on?_ Charlie wondered as he came to a stop directly before her. Charlie put what she hoped was a threatening glare in her eyes as she stared him down. How he would see that with his eyes covered, she had no idea. But it was the thought that counts.

He tilted her head at her before reaching up and loosening the bonds on her hands. Instead of letting go he wrapped his large hands around her wrist and helped her lower her arms which were sore from being tied so tightly. Once her hands were down he worked on the rag around her mouth until it slipped off and fell to the ground. Charlie bent to pick up her pants and let out a groan. Her head hurt like a bitch.

"Are you alright?" The man spoke in a deep, gruff voice. It wasn't a threatening question but it was one Charlie didn't really want to answer. She didn't really want to talk at all. Or try to comprehend what had just happened. She just wanted to get home.

"Define _alright._ " She hadn't meant for it to come out so sharply but she turned away from him as she shifted back into her pants and zipped them up. She was still on edge with him nearby. She hadn't decided if he was a threat or not yet.

He chuckled at her abruptness and backed up a step as if she had threatened him. She turned to face him. He was tall in stature and lean. Muscular, but not overly. He had a nice smile, but men with nice smiles were the least of her worries right now.

"Thanks." Charlie muttered. "For helping me. And stuff. Thanks."

He smiled again. "Do you want me to walk you home?"

Charlie raised an eyebrow. Yes, let's let the suspicious man with a hat pulled down over his eyes walk her to her cheap apartment on the outskirts of Hell's Kitchen. That would be sure to give Genevieve a heart attack.

"Thanks for the offer but I really should be fine. Once I get to the main road it's a straight shot." She didn't want to be alone again in the city but she wasn't sure she could trust this man and she wasn't sure she could stand for much longer. She could feel her legs shaking from her adrenaline dying down and her head was pounding. "What's your name if you don't mind me asking? That way I can have a name for the wild story I will be spinning when my head clears up tomorrow morning."

The man smirked. "I think that would defeat the purpose of the mask."

"Touche. Well, peace out then." Charlie backed away from him towards the alley exit holding a peace sign as if she was a middle schooler saying bye to some friends after a long day and not a woman who had barely escaped being raped. _Smooth Charlie_ , she though, _real smooth._


	3. Chapter 3: Stress Eating

Charlie unlocked her front door and slid into her apartment closing the door behind her and leaning against it. She could her the voice of Spencer Reid discussing something scientific and confusing on the television as she slumped down to the ground and hugged her knees. Jabber ran up to her purring and rubbing himself all over her legs shedding long grey cat hair on her already ruined black pants.

"Hey, buddy," she murmured rubbing under his chin just like he liked it. "Did you have a nice day watching peasants from the window?" Jabber meowed in response and continued purring.

"Charlie? Is that you?" Gen walked down their narrow hallway holding a cupcake and licking the icing. Her chin length ginger hair bounced as she crouched down until she was eye level with Charlie. She stuck her pinky in the icing and wiped it on Charlie's nose. "You look terrible," she stated.

Charlie smiled. " Nice to see you too, Gen."

"What the hell happened?"

Charlie quickly recounted the night's events and watched as Gen sat back to let it all soak in. Minutes passed after Charlie finished before Gen finally spoke.

"We should probably get your head checked out. Just to be sure it's not serious."

"It's fine. I think I just need to relax."

"You're lucky that dude was there. Otherwise it would have been much worse. His timing sure was fantastic. Interesting." Gen crinkled her nose. Always the pessimist, she rarely accepted an act of goodness without waiting to see the reason behind it.

Charlie nodded limply. She remembered is cool hands relieving her burning wrists from the rope and the chuckle he released at her persistent questions. He definitely seemed too calm about the entire situation . Like he knew something she didn't about the entire situation. Interesting indeed.

Gen stood up licking the remaining frosting from her fingers and offered a hand to Charlie who was still sitting against the front door. "Come on, I bought some brownie mix if you wanna help me whip it up. To celebrate your new job? And you still living. That too, of course."

Charlie lifted her brow and grabbed onto Gen's outstretched hand. "Didn't you just eat several desperation cupcakes?"

"I won't judge your poor diet choices if you don't judge mine, potato girl."

A few hours later Charlie and Genevieve sat curled up on the couch together watching reruns of America's Next Top Model munching on an array of potatoes, brownies, and desperation cupcakes.

"Was he hot?" Gen asked, out of the blue.

"Who? Masked man?"

"Yeah."

"Did I mention he was wearing a mask? Because he was. That kinda makes it hard to determine if he was attractive or not. Plus I had just undergone a rather tramatic experience. So there's that." Charlie shoved some potatoes in her mouth. They comforted her like no one else could. True best friends.

"I mean, I don't know, it's kinda hot. He rescues you all damsel in distress like and-"

" I am not a damsel in distress."

"Well, you kinda were." Gen shakes her head, her red bob bouncing around her emerald green eyes. "I'm just saying that it's like it was out of a movie or something. At least you weren't seriously hurt."

Charlie considered what she was saying. Sure, the experience was horrifying and if she could go back in time and avoid it, she would. But this strange masked man stood out in her mind. She had so many questions and she wasn't sure she would ever get answers. Not to mention that the men who attacked her seemed to be fulfilling some mysterious orders. That was freaky.

Jabber hopped up in between the women and meowed loudly to make sure he had properly announced his presence. Gen scratched his head and sighed.

"Everything happens for a reason, Charlie."

Eventually Gen crawled off to bed and Charlie was left alone with her thoughts and a very fluffy cat. She had curled up on their balcony overlooking Manhattan with Jabber asleep on her lap. Sleeping would have been hard enough with the excitement of a new job lurking over her but that combined with what she had experienced that night made for bad dreams and cold sweats. She found her mind wandering to the mysterious masked man and what he was doing. Was he home with his family? Asleep? Or still out there saving lives and fighting crime?

She supposed it didn't matter. Charlie had no intention of ever seeing him again and she had worse things to think about. Like how the hell she was supposed to get through her first day of work with no sleep and a possible concussion.

She sat stroking Jabber until the first hint of light began to touch the city and she watched it begin to stir. The city never slept, not really, but there was something about the morning that made everything seem more magical. Like the new day was bringing adventure and opportunity to anyone willing to chase it. And today this applied especially to Charlie.


	4. Chapter 4: Patch

Charlie's first day at Stapleton's was nothing like she imagined it. She arrived to work at a fashionable time of 9:03 am and was put straight to work with perhaps the strangest group of people she had ever met. Renner assigned her to work on the breaking news team. It was the smallest section of the company since they primarily focused on politics and large scale crime.

The team was tiny, only about seven people including her. It included three high-strung reporters, another photographer, and two dorky writers who did each others editing. The reporters, two girls and an extremely flamboyant gay man named Lucas argued over what stories they wanted by the grand window overlooking the city. The writers, Sarah and Drew had their heads bent over a story that was just released by their rival company and the photographer, Daniel, fiddled with his camera in the corner. They greeted Charlie with open arms and introduced her to her duties and responsibilities as a Stapleton's photojournalist. The day flew by and soon came to an end. Charlie prolonged leaving for as long as possible as it grew darker by the minute.

She wasn't ready to walk home again.

Gen had offered to walk over and pick her up since they didn't own a car but that meant she had to take the night off from her job at the gallery and Charlie didn't want her to miss work. They were short enough on cash as it was. Besides, the walk wasn't that long and she would stay on the main roads. It would be a pinch longer to get home but Charlie had no intentions of stepping foot in that alley ever again. Or any alley, for that matter.

She grabbed her scarf and coat and said farewell to her new coworkers as she finally left the office. It was colder than it had been that morning and she drew the coat tighter around herself to try and keep in body heat. Her breath escaped her lips and steamed up to the sky reminding her of how she used to pretend she was a dragon as a child and chase her brother around the yard. Man, how times changed.

The streets had already cleared out due to her procrastination at leaving the office and she found herself jumping at every strange noise. She could have called a cab or taken a subway but she desperately needed to save her money. Every penny counted.

Suddenly, a van pulled to a stop beside her on the empty road and the person in the passenger seat rolled down the window. It was one of those black pedophile vans parents warn their kids to avoid from a young age but it looked like it was in nice shape. There were no windows except for the ones in the front and Charlie instinctively backed up.

"Umm, excuse me Miss, do you happen to know how to get to the Empire state building from here? We appear to be dreadfully lost." The man lilted in a smooth British accent.

Charlie stared at him blankly and when she realized what she was doing she cleared her throat. "Ahem, sorry. I, uh, I'm new to the area, sorry I couldn't tell you." She smiled feebly.

"Ah, well, that's too bad. . . Get 'er boys." The words had barely escaped his mouth when two men jumped out of the back of the van and ran towards her. She didn't even have time to comprehend what was happening before the first one picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. Charlie felt herself go into attack mode and she began to kick and scream with every ounce of strength she had as the man threw her into the back of the van and got in behind her. He immediately flipped her onto her belly twisting her arms painfully behind her back and binding them with a coil of rope. Her wrists burned from yesterday's attack and were soon raw again. She could feel blood trickling down her hands.

The other man hopped into the van, pulling the doors shut behind him. The van lurched back onto the road as the first man tied a gag around Charlie's mouth and quickly bound her legs together at the ankles.

"Now, _that's_ how you get a job done." The Brit in the passenger seat exclaimed clapping his hands. "And not a masked man in sight, might I add."

One of her captures snorted.

"The fact that those three goons couldn't handle one 120lb woman is beyond me."

"Yeah, well, let's get her to the boss and get paid so we can get the hell out of this stinkin' city. "

Charlie was sizing up the men in the back with her when the man in the passenger seat screamed.

"Antonio, WATCH OUT!"

Charlie didn't see the masked man standing in the middle of the road or the street lamp Antonio hit. In fact, she barely remembered the crash at all. She did remember the van flipping and her being airborne for a few precious seconds before slamming into the side of the van and blacking out.

She regained consciousness to find herself being carried away from the smoking van in the arms of someone she didn't recognize. He laid her down in an alley off to the side of the crash and began to release her from her bonds. As her eyes began to regain their focus she realized her savior was the same man from the night before. Fully equipped with his confusing mask and adorable smirk.

"We have _got_ to stop meeting like this." She croaked as he undid the gag around her mouth, his fingers lingering longer than necessary on her jawline. She tried to sit up from where he had laid her on the alley floor only to send her head spinning and a sharp pain to explode in her ribcage. She let out a groan as she felt his hands gently lay her back down.

"You probably shouldn't move, you have a concussion and several cracked ribs. Not to mention the gash on your head and the minor cuts all over your body that are bleeding like the devil."

"Ugh, I don't have time for this." Charlie grumbled thinking about the stack of bills on her and Gen's kitchen table and the new job that apparently came with bad luck.

"Tell that to your ribs." He stated as he positioned his arms around her waist and under her knees and stood up with an exaggerated grunt.

"Really. Was a grunt really necessary?" Charlie snapped but found her head leaning against his chest anyway. The world had begun to slow down but she felt like her body was going to snap in two. She felt him chuckle and it caused a pleasant rumble to take place under her head. She smiled despite herself but felt herself slipping out of consciousness yet again.

When she awoke she was in a strange room and the light was blinding. She was laying on couch in what appeared to be a rather large apartment living room. She blinked and focused her eyes on a huge glowing billboard that was visible through the windows.

"Wow. That sucks," She muttered.

"You're awake. Good." The man still wore his mask and he approached her with a glass of water in one hand and a towel in the other. "I cleaned your wounds as best as I could. If you take it easy the next couple of weeks you should heal just fine."

"Where am I? Why didn't you take me to the hospital?"

"I couldn't take you there. It wouldn't be safe. They'd find you."

"They?"

"I think that that's a conversation for a later time." He crouched down beside her and wriggled a hand under her back slowly bringing her up to a half sitting position. He handed her the glass of water then stood up and and moved to a chair on the other side of the room.

"You must have a lot of questions."

"I'd say that would be a fairly accurate assumption." Charlie took a sip of the water, feeling it slide down her scratchy throat. "Starting with how the hell do you see with that hat pulled over your eyes?"

"Next question."

"Seriously? You can skip questions. Not fair." His expression didn't change as he stared at her. Or rather, faced her, since she had no idea what his eyes were doing. "Okaaaaay. . . is this your apartment?"

"It was the only place I knew I could protect you."

Fair enough. Except for the fact that she had no idea who he was and he could turn out to be the next Zodiac killer. Judging by Charlie's recent luck it was a fair assumption.

"Why are those men chasing me?"

"I'm not completely sure, but from what I've gathered it's a long story and I'd like you to be fully rested before I explain it. You've had a rough night, you need to let it all soak in."

" What I _need_ to do is tell my roommate where I am." She could picture Gen pacing their living room with an anxious Jabber tailing her around the room. She wasn't sure how much time had passed but it had to be much longer than it took for her to get home. Gen had probably called the police by now and was accusing them of being incompetent and useless for their lack of turning up with Charlie in hand. "Do you have a phone? Or know where mine is?"

He replied by getting up and grabbing her bag from a barstool in the kitchen and handing it to her.

"Thanks. I'm Charlie, by the way. Providing this is going to keep happening I figure you should probably know my name." She found her phone and was not surprised to see 13 missed calls from Gen and several crude text messages all along the lines of: "If you don't answer me in the next ten minutes I will personally come outside, find you, skin you alive, and then chop off all your appendages and feed them to the alligators I am certain live in the sewer."

"Are you going to tell me your name, or should I just make one up?" Charlie asked texting a reply to Gen.

"You can call me whatever you please."

Charlie looked over at him. He was standing by the window facing her, but not perfectly. He was focusing on the wrong spot of the room from where she was. Interesting.

"Well, if you say so. But you're giving me an awful lot of power. I could just call you Asshat for the rest of my days and there would be nothing you could say about it because you refused to tell me what to call you."

"With great power, comes great responsibility."

Charlie scoffed but found herself grinning.

"Fine. I'll call you. . . ." Her eyes wandered around the room. Searching for something that she could link to him and shape it into a nickname worth giving. Her eyes finally settled on a tear on his shirt that revealed a little bit of his skin underneath. "Patch. I'll call you Patch."

"Patch? What kind of name is _Patch?_ "

"The kind of name that is given to mysterious men who refuse to offer up suitable names for a replacement." She grinned at his shrug. She had him there.

"Fine. _Patch_ it is. Now seriously, get some sleep. We'll figure out what to do tomorrow. I'd let you sleep in my bed but I don't want to risk hurting you more by moving you."

"I'm fine, really." Charlie settled back down into the couch and put her phone back in her bag. Gen was satisfied for now when Charlie had told her she was staying with one of her new coworkers for the night for some friendly workplace 'bonding'.

Patch was already moving towards his room when Charlie called out to him.

"Patch, I just wanted to say thank you. For everything. Mostly for my life but for the other stuff too."

He looked over his shoulder and gave her that smile she had learned to love in the past 24 hours.

"It was my pleasure."


	5. Chapter 5: Foggy's Request

Charlie awoke to a pounding headache and aches all over her body. She groaned as she sat up in her bed, a fluffy cat curled up next to her.

Wait.

 _Her bed?_

Glancing at her torso she saw it was wrapped with bandages and the major cuts on her body were covered with bandaids and wraps confirming that last night was not a dream.

 _What the hell?_

Jabber meowed at her frantic movements and stretched dramatically before curling himself into a ball. Charlie stroked his head until she noticed the slip of fabric on her nightstand.

It was a thin fabric, worn from use and torn around the edges. A _patch._ Charlie snorted. So mystery man had a sense of humor after all.

Gen bursted into her room carrying a tray of assorted breakfast foods that only Gen would assemble. It consisted of two Frosted Flakes cereal bars, a slice of pizza, and a past-expired lump of mysterious fruit that vaguely resembled a banana.

"Hey, sleepyhead, want some- whoa. What kind of party did you say you went to again? " Her eyes widened as she took in Charlie's bandages. "Wait, did something happen?" She put down the tray and crouched next to where Charlie lay in bed. "Did you get ravaged by the sexy mysterious man currently sitting our living room. Can't say I'm not a bit jealous. All I did was lay on the couch with Jabber and watch reruns of _The Office_." Her red hair was in it's naturally curly state and as usual it complimented her green eyes perfectly. She was stunning but had a tendency to leave a trail of heartbreak wherever she went.

Charlie burst out of bed at the mention of the man but immediately regretted the sudden movement. An assortment of sharp pains broken out throughout her body. She doubled over until they calmed to a dull throb, her head still spinning. Taking a deep breath she struggled to regain her composure as she stood up straight and turned to Gen. Speaking slowly, as if she had misunderstood, she uttered a single word:

" _What?_ "

"Yeah, I don't know. He knocked on the door at the ungodly hour of 10am asking for you. Said it was urgent. I told him I hadn't heard you come home last night and wasn't sure if you were even here but he said he was fairly positive you were and that he would wait for you to wake up." Gen shrugged. "He's definitely not what I considered your taste but hey-" She threw her hands in the air and backed out of the room slowly. "I'm not one to judge."

When Gen was gone Charlie slowly made her way over to her closet. Her shirt was shredded and she tried not to think about what Patch had seen last night when he had bandaged her up. It was Saturday, so she didn't need to worry about rushing to work, so she slipped into an oversized sweater that didn't irritate her ribs too much and a pair of black leggings. Glancing in the mirror warranted a small groan. She could go shopping with the bags under her eyes and that was only if you ignored the assorted cuts and bruises on her face and neck. Her hair was the size of Jupiter, a ball of knots and frizz. Juxtaposed to Gen, Charlie was the definition of 'hot mess '. Minus the 'hot' part of course. She struggled to run a brush in her mane before twisting it into what she hoped would pass for a bun. With her hair pulled back the bruises stood out more on her face and neck. Especially the ones near her grey eyes. Fantastic.

She slowly made her way down the hallway expecting to hear the chatter of voices but was greeted with awkward silence. When she finally reached their living room she saw Gen leaning over the kitchen counter with a mug that said "Bite Me". A heavy aroma of coffee filled the room. She was eye balling the gentleman who sat on their couch tapping his fingers nervously. Judging by the whole situation Charlie figured Gen was being about as friendly as Gen ever got. Which was to say she had tried avoiding verbally attacking their guest about opposing ideas and settled to politely glare at him from across the room. And Gen wondered why people were intimidated by her.

Charlie turned to the man and could tell immediately it wasn't Patch. His hair was too long to not show under a simple hat and he was rather soft around the middle. Not to mention he lacked facial hair where Patch had dark stubble. Still, she had not clue who he was was or why he was here.

He stood when she entered the room and extended his hand to her.

"Hello, you must be Charlie. Pleasure. The name's Foggy. Foggy Nelson."

Charlie stared at his hand for a moment before shaking it. He glanced expectantly at Gen as if he expected her to suddenly greet him with open arms now that I was here. She settled for the continuation of glaring and took a sip of coffee.

"Have you guys not already introduced yourselves?" Charlie asked, moving to sit at the kitchen table. Gen's eyes followed Foggy as he approached her, hand outstretched.

"Foggy, Gen. Gen, Foggy." Charlie twirled her hand. What the hell had Gen done while she was sleeping? Ignored him and treated him like a new piece of furniture?

On second thought, Charlie wasn't surprised.

Foggy was still standing awkwardly opposite of the counter of Gen with his hand outstretched. Gen stared at it like it was the most horrendous thing she had ever seen. Another sip of coffee.

"Gen doesn't do touching." Charlie stated nonchalantly as she reached across the table to grab a Charlie the Unicorn mug that Gen had gotten her for Christmas last year. Charlie had had an incident with a champagne cork that had nailed her between the eyes and Gen had thought it was the funniest thing; a Charlie the Unicorn for her Charlie the Unicorn. Ridiculous.

Foggy retracted his hand and wiped it on his pants awkwardly.

"Okayyy, well, Alright then. Pleasure, Gen. Mind if I sit?" He motioned to the seat across from Charlie.

"Be my guest."

Gen moved around the table and grabbed the seat next to Charlie while sipping her coffee. Her natural resting bitch face was enough to throw anyone off their game but apparently Foggy had decided to just ignore her. That's what people usually decide to go with when they encountered Gen.

"So, Charlie. I hear that you're in some trouble."

"I am?"

"You are."

Charlie raised an eyebrow.

"And where did you hear that, may I ask?"

"From our, uhh, _mutual friend."_

"And who might that be?"

"Gah, what are you calling him . . ." Foggy snapped his fingers and looked at the ceiling, obviously searching for a name. "Patch!" He pointed at Charlie. "I believe you refer to him as 'Patch'." He sat back in his seat and crossed his arm clearly looking very proud of himself.

Meanwhile, Gen nearly spit out her coffee. " _Patch?_ What kind of name is _Patch?!"_

Foggy pointed at Charlie again. "I don't know. Ask her. She's the one who came up with it."

Gen nodded as if this was normal. "Of course she did." Foggy and her shared a knowing glance before Charlie threw up her hands.

"Okay, enough! So you've heard from Patch. Mind sharing how-" She motioned to Foggy. "- _you_ fit into all of this?"

"Ah, yes." He handed her a business card that read:

Nelson and Murdock Law Office

And in smaller print directly below the name:

Now Accepting Clients

Walk-ins Welcome

"Why do I need the help of a law firm? Shouldn't I be contacting the police? Or mercenaries, I mean, I don't know how these things typically work."

"We kinda specialize in your, ah, _situation_."

"Don't you guys have more important things to attend to? Like court dates and such."

"Not particularly, no. We're running a bit short on clientele at the moment." _Great_ , thought Charlie, _nothing like a failing law firm to lend a helping hand._ "But, Charlie, I can guarantee your safety should you choose to accept our aid."

"And how are going to do that? How can you guarantee my safety? No offense, but you don't really look like the type of guy who can stand a chance against the people who are after me. I've seen them in action. I know what they're capable of. I'm not exactly defenseless myself and I can't make a dent against them. This isn't just some random attack, these men are _trained._ They are on a mission to capture me and I'm not sure _anyone_ can 'guarantee' my safety. Not even Patch."

Foggy stared at her. Even Gen seemed a bit taken aback by her outburst. Charlie knew that Gen took it upon herself to watch over her, looking at Charlie like more of a ward than anything else. Nevermind that they were the same age and had been best friends for most of their life, Gen was always the one to beat up the bullies who chased her and dry her tears afterward. Gen had never used her harsh attitude towards her and Charlie could see her frustration at her inability to help with the situation at all. Gen hated the feeling of being useless. Probably why she was so damn controlling all the time.

"Look, why don't you come to my office. Meet my partner, take a look around, and have a moment to talk to us about everything. We can share what we know about your situation and discuss our opinions on how to deal with it. If, after all that, you're still unsure, then we'll back off and give you some time. Give us a chance, Miss Evedyn."

Charlie took a sip of her coffee and thought about it for a moment. The second attack had left her exhausted, both physically and mentally. She wasn't sure she could escape a third time. Definitely not on her own and probably not even with Patch's help. Her hunters would be anticipating his interference this time around and that was only _if_ he chose to interfere. He could feel that his job was done now that he had alerted this firm to her predicament. This, Nelson and Murdock thingamabob may be her only chance. Not to mention the danger this whole situation put Gen in by association. And Jabber, of course.

"Fine. I'll go with you to your office. On one condition."

"Anything."

"Gen comes too."

Foggy smiled.

"Of course, why would we want to leave behind this cloud of sunshine."


	6. Chapter 6: Nelson and Murdock's

The exterior of Nelson and Murdock's was a disaster. The building was located in a not-so-great part of Hell's Kitchen (If any part of it _was_ great, to be honest) and looked like it had seen better days. The brick had long lost it's beautiful red sheen and some of the windows were boarded shut.

"Sorry about the building, we only just recently moved in. We're the only business in here so far." Foggy stated as he held open the door for Charlie and Gen.

"Can't imagine why." Gen remarked eyeballing the building. Charlie elbowed her in the ribs. Foggy ignored the comment.

Foggy led them through another door and into a basic square room. The only pieces of furniture in the room were a simple portable table and a few filing cabinets. It was even more empty than Charlie's apartment and she was fresh out of college, these guys were supposed to be professionals. Behind the counter sat a stunning blonde woman. She appeared to be around Charlie's age and looked up when they entered the room. She smiled at Foggy who returned it with much excitement.

"Charlie, Gen, I'd like you to meet Karen Page. Our secretary." Karen extended a hand and Charlie shook it. Gen followed to Charlie's surprise.

"It's a pleasure. We've been working hard to assess your situation, Charlie. I hope that you'll choose to accept our aid." She flashed a flawless smile at Charlie. If Gen was a ten, then this girl was a fifteen. Easily.

"I'm not really quite sure what's going on, to be honest." Charlie said. Gen raised her hand as if she was in grade school.

"Me too. I also have no idea. Probably more so than Charlie has no idea. I just watch Netflix."

Karen laughed. "Well, we'll just have to enlighten you guys then. If you'll just follow me."

She led us to a neighboring room where a small table and several chairs resided. "If you ladies would just take a seat we'll be right back. We need to grab some paperwork and locate Mr. Murdock."

Gen wasted no time once Foggy and Karen had left before she assaulted Charlie with a million questions. Most of them along the premise of "What the _hell_ , Charlie?!"

"I mean seriously? You get attacked _twice_ in a period of _two_ days and then we're suddenly recruited by some sketch attorney business, which, by the way, we _definitely_ can't afford. And they just happen to know _all_ the answers to your problems? That doesn't seem the _least_ bit strange to you?" Gen's face was flushed from her rant and her hair whipped around violently like a forest fire in the summer.

"Of course I think it's strange! I mean, they could have been the ones to hire the me-"

"Nah," Gen shook her head. "Way too stupid. Have you met Foggy?"

Charlie rolled her eyes. "You had better keep that thought to yourself. I rather enjoy _living_. And if these people know how to guarantee that then by all means, I'm not going to stop them." Charlie sighed and sat back in her chair. "It's not like I have a whole lot of options right now."

Gen leaned forward and grabbed Charlie's hand from across the table. "You have another option, Charlie. Me. We can move. Just pack up our things, grab Jabber and move to another city. One with considerably less murderers and street fighters. Like Denver."

"Unfortunately, that would only end in both of your deaths and most likely the death of your cat." Charlie looked up at the door to put a face to the mysterious, yet familiar, masculine voice. A man stood in the doorway dressed in a well-pressed grey suit with a simple black tie. It fit his form amazingly well and Charlie felt Gen tense. She always had a thing for a well dressed man. Charlie's eyes traveled up his body and rested on his face. A pair of red tinted circular sunglasses blocked his eyes. He was blind.

"Charlie, Gen. I'd like you to meet my associate and partner, Matthew Murdock." Gen and Charlie greeted him quietly as Foggy squeezed past the doorway and sat down next to Gen. Karen made her way around them both and sat at the head of the table, pad of paper in hand. Matt leaned on the door way.

A moment passed before Charlie finally spoke.

"So. . . is this like, your first time dealing with protecting an unimportant photojournalist or do you guys make this time of thing a priority?"

Matt chuckled and Foggy glared at him.

"Miss. Evedyn-" Matt began.

"Charlie. You can all call me Charlie. No need to be formal."

"Well, Charlie," Matt spoke her name slowly as if hearing the word spoken outloud was strange to him. "As you may have guessed, there are a group of people who would like nothing more than to obtain you-"

"Obviously." Gen muttered

"- for reasons still unknown to us. It would help us tremendously if you could answer a few questions and offer up a brief history of yourself. This may help us piece together what the organization wants from you so badly." Karen was writing everything in her notepad to Charlie's left and she could see Foggy and Gen looking at her from the corner of her eye but her attention was focused on the handsome attorney in the doorway. The one who couldn't possibly see her and yet seemed to see everything.

"Do you know the name of the organization?" Charlie asked to no one in particular.

"We have a few leads," Foggy replied.

"Are you going to tell me what they are?"

"Not until we're certain," Matt stated as he began to make his way to a chair at the other end of the table, opposite of Karen. "We don't want to falsely accuse anyone, but we'll know for certain in a few days."

Charlie nodded and looked down at her hands which were clasped in front of her on the table. She had several broken nails and minor cuts on both hands. All reminders of the ordeals she had had to endure the last two days. All signs she was a survivor. Not knowing who was after her or why was hell, but at least she was here to find out. If these two men were willing to help her then by all means, she wasn't going to stop them.

"What do you need to know?" She looked up making sure she made eye contact with both Karen and Foggy before finally resting her eyes on Matt. He looked in her direction so intently that she couldn't believe he was blind.

"Let's start with the simple stuff. Where were you born? Schools? Family?" Foggy took out a pad of paper as he spoke and wrote a few things down. Matt remained perfectly still.

"Oh, umm. Charlotte, North Carolina. I went to a public school in the area, attended an arts college in North Carolina as well. No siblings. Parents divorced when I was eleven. Mom still lives in Charlotte, Dad in Seattle. Moved here with Gen a few months ago to try and kick start our careers. We figured if you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere, right?" Charlie scoffed. "Funny how that turned out."

"And how did you meet Gen?" Matt asked.

"Wow, where do I start. Y'know, I don't really remember. She's just always been there. I guess my earliest memory of her was when she would defend me on the playground in elementary school."

Gen laughed. "Yeah, you used to get beat up so bad. I remember thinking 'why does that poor girl keep trying to fight back?' Charlie, if you had just stopped fighting back they would have left you alone eventually."

"You know I would never do that."

"Yeah, you were never one to back down from a fight. Or a challenge for that matter."

"You were bullied a lot in school?" Foggy asked writing in his notepad.

"Bullied isn't exactly the word. Beat up is a better term." Charlie stated matter of factly.

"Yeah, she was a huge nerd. Never grew out of it either. In fact-" Gen began before Charlie cut her off.

"Anyway, yeah. I got in a lot of fights. Gen defended me. She was the only one who ever did. So I guess we became friends that way."

"Did you get better?" Matt asked, his voice husky. "At fighting, I mean. Did you get better?"

Charlie stared at him a moment before answering, her voice barely a whisper. "Yeah, I got better."

"Got _better?_ Damn, girl don't cut yourself short. She got _great_. One day she was barely holding her own and then those kids tried to jump her again and she took them _out._ I remember hearing her scream and running towards her one day and by the time I got there she just stood there alone on the curb, the kids running off in different directions. Mind you, she had a huge gash on her head and was bawling like a baby, but she did it. She stood up for herself." Gen smiled proudly. "My little vigilante."

Charlie rolled her eyes. "I took some classes and learned some tricks from the fights I had been in before. That and I began to learn some basic parkour. That took up most of my freetime. By the time I graduated high school I could scale a four story building and break into almost any complex. Made good for finding information for stories." Charlie paused, noticing the raised eyebrows on both Foggy and Karen. "I didn't _steal_ anything if that's what you're wondering. Just the truth, I suppose. The businesses I broke into were often harboring some sick secrets that I exposed to the public. Figured they should stop bullying clients." Charlie shrugged and scratched the back of her neck. They all just stared at her for a moment except for Gen who smiled like a proud parent.

"Okay, well. That's definitely a start. Maybe you have information that these people don't want to get out to the public." Foggy stated flipping through his notepad.

"But that wouldn't make any sense. Every breaking story I discovered was only for local Charlotte news. It wouldn't have affected anything up here. Besides, I just got hired at Stapleton's. I haven't had any time to receive an assignment, let alone finish one."

"Then it must be something else. Perhaps it's a fear of what you _could_ discover. Or a recruitment technique of some kind." Matt scratched his chin. "We'll do some more research, see what we can find out."

"Through our mutual friend?" Charlie saw all of their faces change when she mentioned it but she figured they should know what she was thinking. No one had mentioned Patch since they had got here and she still didn't know how he tied into all of this. The initial surprise of her associates was replaced with stony indifference as if they spoke telepathically. Interesting. They were definitely hiding something. And clearly they didn't expect her to be so blunt about the question of Patch. They were in for a bumpy ride if they thought she was just going to sit back and let them figure out her situation on her own. Charlie had a knack for discovering secrets and these people had something to hide.

Karen was the first to speak, surprisingly. "Yes. Through our mutual friend. We'll be working here to figure as much out as we can and he'll be working through more, uh, _elusive_ means."

"Do you mean he's going to be breaking into shit to get answers? Because if so, I want in." Charlie sat back and crossed her arms. She was not a damsel in distress. They could harbour secrets of their own, Charlie wasn't worried about that. But when it came to her life and her situation she had every intention of finding answers on her own as well. She wanted to help.

"Absolutely not," Matt spoke, a hint of anger in his voice. "You are not going to endanger yourself further by following a vigilante around the city a night and breaking into top secret agencies filled with people who want to murder you. That sounds like the exact _opposite_ of what you should be doing. Especially with those injuries."

Charlie stared at him, slightly stunned at his outburst but also intrigued to how he knew what the exact extent of her injuries were. She hadn't spoke of them to anyone, not even Gen and he couldn't exactly _see_ them. There was more to this Murdock man than met the eye. Another mystery Charlie was intent on solving.

"Well, to be frank. You guys can't exactly stop me. What are you going to do? Lock me in my apartment? I want to help. I can't just sit at home and wait to be attacked again. The sooner we find out what's happening the better. And I am a _great_ investigator. Not to toot my own horn or anything."

Gen rolled her eyes at Charlie before turning to Foggy and Matt. "Look, I don't agree with her investigating any of this on her own. I mean, look at how well her first two encounters with these people turned out." Gen motioned to Charlie's bruises. "But there isn't much you or I can do to stop her, to be honest. She is as hardheaded as she is stupid and she's going to go out one way or another. Maybe it would just be better to let her tag along-"

"No. And that's final." Matt growled. "We are not letting an inexperienced journalist follow a vigilante around New York city at night. Besides, why do you even assume we control what this man does? He comes to us when he has information, not the other way around. We don't converse with him on a regular basis."

Charlie highly doubted that but she played along. Raising her hands in the air to fake a surrendering position she figured she would just pacify them for now and figure the rest out on her own later. "Fine, fine, fine. Don't contact him."

"Do you promise to just leave it up to us? We'll protect you, I swear. Give your body time to heal." Matt's voice had lost it's aggressive tone and he leaned toward her. "Please, Charlie. Don't put yourself in harm's way for no reason. Patch is a dangerous man. He'll only bring you trouble."

Charlie looked at Matt, his muscular frame and high cheekbones. He almost seemed desperate for her to promise that she'd hang back but she knew in her heart that she couldn't. She wasn't one to let other people solve all of her problems for her. She wanted to help and if it meant lying to this sexy attorney, then by all means. She would do what she needed to.

"Yeah, sure, whatever. I'll stay at home and wait around like a useless housewife." Gen snorted across from Charlie but Charlie never stopped looking at Matt.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Foggy stood up exclaiming that that was settled and that all she had to do was sign some paperwork but Charlie continued to look at Matt. Even though she had tried to sound as sincere as possible in her promise she could tell he knew she was lying.


	7. Chapter 7: The Deal

Hello out there! I am posting this author's note a day after I posted the chapter so I hope you some of you guys that have already viewed the chapter will be able to see this!

I am beyond amazed with the response this story has gotten, I had no clue that anyone would even be remotely interested in my ramblings or the creation of Charlie and Gen. Gen is actually based off a close friend of mine who behaves similarly.

Anywho, thanks so much to everyone who had taken the time to read this story!

Sidenote:

I don't have a beta reader (in case you couldn't tell, oops) and work to reread my chapters to fix any spelling or grammar mistakes I made. If you see one, or if you have any constructive criticism at all, let me know! After all, I'm here to grow as a writer. I will take it all under consideration while I search for a beta reader.

* * *

Charlie slipped the black long sleeved shirt over an old pair of thermal underarmor she had acquired during her parkour years. The movement hurt her ribs like a bitch and she let out a small groan. Maybe this isn't such a good idea? She thought as she bent over to lace black boots. Then she remembered how Matt had outrightly denied her the right to defend herself like she was some kind child that was incapable of taking care of herself. The wave of frustration and anger that overtook her at the memory was enough for her to finish trying her shoes and stand up a little straighter than she did before. He had no right to act like he was in control of any aspect of her life regardless of if he was her lawyer or not. She had been taking care of herself for as long as she could remember, with the help of Gen of course. So, maybe she wasn't going out tonight for the right reasons, but deciding to seek Patch seemed like a tiny stab of defiance against a gloomy and controlling attorney. Serves him right for trying to boss me around.

She grabbed a black vest and scoured through her closet for the knife she knew she had brought with her from home. Eventually she found the box she had hid it in underneath an old scrapbook Gen had made for her in their high school years. The binding was beginning to strip off along the outer edges of the thick leather book and Charlie flipped it open to a random page in the middle. A crinkled photo of her and Gen in their senior year of high school looked up at her. They were both grinning, their arms wrapped around one another in an awkward side hug. Gen's ginger hair curled all the way down to her waist, this was before she had cut it off declaring herself a woman of the new age. Her familiar green eyes crinkled at the edges as she smiled one of her rare smiles at the camera. She was slightly shorter than she was now but still a good inch or so above Charlie. Charlie, on the other hand, looked almost the same compared to how she looked now. She was wearing too much eye makeup and had more of a baby face but her wild hair was still unmanageable and her clothes look sloppy-chic. They both looked so carefree and full of life in the photo, grinning like idiots. This was a time before debt and late night attacks from large, scary men that seemed to have become an everyday occurrence.

Charlie shut the book and returned it gently to the bottom of her closet. She made a silent promise to herself to look through it with Gen soon. Sliding her knife out of the box Charlie realized just how long it had been since she had last used it. Inspecting it closely resulted in her notice of the rust around its handle and the dullness of the blade. At best, I still risk the chance of walking away tonight with tetanus she thought miserably before sliding it back into its sheath and tying it to her belt loop. Having the knife with her offered a small amount of security and she pulled the vest down so it was concealed.

Although, whether she had the knife or not, Charlie still wouldn't stand a chance against her previous attackers.

Or Patch, for that matter. She still wasn't sure if he could be trusted. Despite this law firm that seemed to come highly recommended from him.

Stifling her cynical thoughts, Charlie opened her bedroom door to the sound of the television blaring from down the hall. As usual, Gen was curled on the couch with a very content Jabber, dozing contently. She snapped to attention as soon as Charlie passed her on her way to the front door.

"You can't be serious." There was a note of desperation in her voice as she took in Charlie's solid black night gear.

Charlie stopped at the door and sighed before turning to address Gen. "I have to do it, Gen. I have to find out what's happening to me. And he knows. Maybe not everything, but more than I do. Which may as well be everything."

"Why can't you just let the attorneys take care of it? They seem kinda qualified." Charlie remained by the door and when Gen realized that she wasn't backing down, she stood up. "I'm coming with you."

"To hell your not. This is my mess and I'm going to fix it."

"I beg to differ. It's not really your mess because as far as we know, you haven't done anything to start it! And, on top of that, you're hurt! What kind of friend would I be if I let you wander the streets of Hell's Kitchen alone at night dressed like a hooligan searching for one of your fellow hooligan accomplices? With your luck, you'd probably get arrested, and God knows I can't afford to bail you out of jail. And while all of this is happening you're still being hunted by a band of merry murderers who would like nothing more than to capture you and serve you to their creepy boss on a golden platter. You've been attacked twice already, Charlie!" Gen grabbed her jacket from a kitchen chair and buttoned it around herself. She was practically fuming from her outburst and Charlie knew she had to think fast. The last thing she needed was an accomplice on a night she could very well get murdered. Or arrested as Gen had so gently put it.

"No offense Gen, but you have no skills whatsoever that are going to be the least bit useful tonight. You literally just lay on the couch watching television and occasionally you draw stuff. And to top it off you're hair is basically a giant glowing beacon!" Charlie shouted gesturing to Gen's head. "Bringing you along is like bringing a small child, you wouldn't be able to follow me if I needed to get over any buildings and you can't defend yourself at all!" Noticing Gen's hurt look she lowered her voice, ashamed at her outburst. "Besides, he may not show up if he sees someone's with me. This is something I have to do alone. Anyway, I'm armed." She lifted up the vest slightly so that Gen could see the knife.

"Seriously? A rusty hunting knife? The most that will do for you is give you tetanus."

"That's crossed my mind."

Gen sighed, threw her hands in the air and collapsed onto a sofa chair. "How are you even going to find him Charlie? Hell's Kitchen is huge and there is also the possibility that maybe he decided to take the night off."

Charlie hadn't considered that but she shrugged. "I gotta try."

Gen walked over to their kitchen counter and grabbed Charlie's Canon Rebel and shoved it into her hands. "At least take this."

She turned the camera over in her hands. It was bulky and not something she wanted with her if she was going to be scaling any buildings. Especially with her injuries, it was better to travel light. "I don't know-"

"Take it. Take it and do what you do best, Charlie. Uncover the truth behind this mess you've gotten yourself into. And by you, I mean us." Gen interrupted. She flopped over to the couch and settled down, stroking Jabber's head. Jimmy Fallon's voice blasting from the television escorted Charlie out as she silently left the apartment and made her way down to the street.

* * *

Charlie had been walking for hours. She had meandered her way around Hell's Kitchen hoping to find some sign of Patch or her attackers. I should know better than to jump into something before I have a solid lead. Charlie punched the side of the building she was next to in frustration. Her hand vibrated and pain shot up her arm. Okay, I've made better decisions. She grimaced and turned around facing the empty street while shaking her hand out.

She didn't know what else to do. She had looked in every corner of Hell's Kitchen for anything suspicious or shady. Which, for Hell's Kitchen, shouldn't have been that hard. Practically everything was suspicious or shady. But of course tonight was the night that the Kitchen decided to clean up it's act and be all upstanding and respectable. Charlie had seen next to no one on the streets, let alone a band of criminals or everyone's favorite masked vigilante.

She sat on the curb and waited. For what, she wasn't sure but she could feel panic and frustration taking over. What if she couldn't find Patch? What if she was captured before the goofy attorneys could help? Why was this happening to her? She tilted her head back as she felt the tears fill her eyes.

That's when she heard the scream.

It rang through the alleyways, shrill and bloodcurdling before it was cut short abruptly. Which of course, is never a good sign. Charlie jumped to her feet and swirled around trying to place exactly where it had come from. Not a soul resided on the street she was on and she quickly picked a direction she hoped was right and jogged down the road. She kept her ears perked for anymore sound, anything that would tell her she was going the right way. She had no clue what she would do when she found the source of the scream but she would figure it out as she went along. Pretty much her life motto.

She slowed her pace, frantically searching the alleys before she heard the voices. They were coming from a tiny alley about a block up and she quickly ran over before crouching down and twisting to look into it.

Three men had surrounded a young girl, maybe 15 or 16 and were angrily discussing what to do with her. A fourth man had her arms twisted around her back and a hand clamped over her mouth. Charlie could see the fear radiating from her eyes all the way from the street and felt a pang in her heart. She knew what it was like to be in this girls shoes. While the men argued Charlie flipped back around so that her back was against the wall and she was facing the street. Think, Charlie, think! She ran through multiple scenarios in her head all of which ended in either her or the girl getting brutally murdered and left in the alley.

Charlie nearly lost it when the hand was clamped over her mouth and she was pulled up from her squatting position and her back pressed against a man's form.

"Shh, don't scream. I'm taking my hand off your mouth now." Charlie stirred at the voice, it was familiar. Very, familiar.

The man released his hold and she whipped around to face him.

"Patch?! What the hell?" She shouted. His hand quickly covered her mouth again as he shoved her against the wall of the building.

"Really? Could you be any louder?" He whispered harshly. Charlie slapped him and he dropped his hand from her mouth and brought it up to his cheek. "Umm, ow!" He said melodramatically.

"Don't you dare cover my mouth again!" Charlie spat pointing a finger at his face. She didn't stop to think that he could take her down with the flick of his hand but he just smirked like a pit bull that had just gotten swatted on the nose by a kitten.

"Well, try not to yell and give away our position!" Patch retorted, clearly having none of her shit. "Which brings me to the question of what the hell are you doing here?" He had lowered his masked face until it was directly in front of Charlie's and she could feel the heat radiating off his body.

"I could ask you the same thing." Charlie whispered trying to put his close proximity out of her mind. He both scared and intrigued her and she wasn't about to let him know it.

"Are you serious? I kind of do this for a living."

"For all you know, I could too."

"I know for a fact that you don't."

Charlie raised a hand. "Oh, really? How can you be so sur-"

"Look," Patch interrupted. "We don't have time for this right now. But we will be discussing this later."

Charlie scoffed. "Yeah, whatever Dad."

Patch shot her a glare and moved to the edge of the building, looking over at the scene. Charlie, trying to be as professional as possible hunched over beside him and looked over as well. The men were still arguing but the girl was now tied and gagged against the wall of the alley. Her head was down and Charlie couldn't tell if she was conscious or not.

"Oh my God, is she okay?" Charlie whispered.

"She's fine. Terrified, but fine."

"How can you be so certain?" She looked up at him as he turned back around to face the street.

"Not important right now."

Charlie threw her hands in the air. "Of course not. God forbid I was actually on the same page as you about something!"

Patch's jaw twitched and he quickly changed the subject. "Okay, so four guys. Not too bad. I can take them out easily and get the girl to safety in a few minutes, tops."

Charlie nodded. "Great. And what do you want me to do?"

Patch turned to her. "Excuse me?"

Charlie motioned to the alley. "You know. What do you want me to do? Tackle 'em? Stab in the leg with the tetanus knife? Pick your poison."

Patch titled his head at her and was silent for a few minutes. Charlie imagined that if he wasn't wearing the mask then he would probably be giving her one of those death glares Gen had mastered years ago.

"You are not going to do anything. With or without said tetanus knife. You are going to stay here because last time I checked you were hurt pretty bad and am in no condition to fight. In fact, even if you were not injured, I would not be setting you lose to take down four adult men on your own."

"Well, it's a good thing I'm not on my own then, is it?" Charlie rebuked crossing her arms over her chest. "You're here."

"You are not-"

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do. You have no control over me whatsoever. So either give me a way to help or I'll just charge in there without you." Charlie had been at a loss the first two times she was attacked and there was nothing worse than knowing you weren't in control of what was happening in your life. This was a way for her to regain some control in her life and she wasn't about to take orders from a masked vigilante. Or from anyone, for that matter.

Seeing that she wasn't going to back down Patch sighed.

"Fine. I'll take out the men, you get the girl. Get her out of the alley. She's not hurt so get her to the street and call the police. The officers that are on the clock currently are clean, she'll be fine."

Charlie didn't ask how he knew that because she figured he wouldn't answer and nodded. Proud to at least have a job she waited at the curb as Patch scaled the building planning on dropping on the men from above. She waited until she heard the fight breakout before she darted into the alley, staying close to the wall so as not to draw attention to herself.

Patch moved at lightening speed. By the time Charlie made it into the alley one man was already down, presumably the one Patch had dropped on from the fire escape. He was engaged with the others, three against one, but they were no match for him. Charlie heard the sickening thud as a man was hit with a garbage can lid by Patch and let out a groan. Everything that was happening reminded Charlie of her attacks and she struggled to remain calm. She had a mission to finish.

She ran up to the girl and began untying her knots, starting with the gag around her mouth. The girl struggled against her at first and Charlie worked to pacify her.

"Hey, hey, hey. It's okay, I'm a friend of his. I'm here to help you."

"He has friends?"

Charlie grinned at her while she worked on the bonds on her hand. "I know right? He has such an awful attitude."

The girl looked at Charlie like she was insane and Charlie assumed it probably looked that way. Here she was criticizing the attitude of a man who only a few feet behind her was bashing another man's head in. But hey, weirder things had happened.

As soon as the girl was free Charlie tugged her to her feet and ran to the street pulling the girl behind her.

"Do you have a cellphone?" Charlie asked, looking over her shoulder to see that Patch was still finishing one man. The sound of their punches could still be heard from the street and Charlie wondered why no one had come outside to see what the ruckus was. Probably used to hearing it around here, she thought.

"Y-yeah." The girl stuttered while she nodded. Her adrenaline was wearing off and shock was setting in. She needed to get away from here, quick.

"Call 911, I'll stay with you until they come, okay?"

The teenager nodded and quickly dialed 911. The sound of sirens filled the air shortly after and Charlie looked back at the alley to see Patch walking up to her. Despite being outnumbered he had come out of the fight fairly unharmed. There were more rips in his black garb and he was bleeding in some places but not too heavily. The wounds all appeared to be superficial. Charlie found herself releasing a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. She'd made it out of yet another street fight with the masked vigilante by her side.

Patch stopped at the edge of the alley, not stepping out into the streetlights and Charlie knew that was her cue. She looked at the girl who had gone pale in the face and was beginning to shiver. The lights from the cars could be seen rapidly approaching.

Charlie placed one hand on the girls arm and another on her cheek. "Hey, you're gonna be fine. Look, they're almost here." The teenage turned to look at the approaching cars.

"I have to go now, but you're in good hands. Stay outta trouble from now on, okay?" The girl nodded at her as Charlie turned and jogged towards Patch who was still lurking in the alleyway.

The moment she reached him he turned and made his way down the alley and past the unconscious men. Charlie made sure to not look too closely at any of them. She couldn't decide if they were alive or not and she really didn't want to know. Patch stopped at the fire escape he had jumped off of earlier and leaped up to grab the lowest rung and pull himself up. He reached down to extend a hand to Charlie but she shook her head.

"I got this." It had been at least a year since she had really practiced her parkour and perhaps trying to do this with some bruised ribs wasn't the smartest idea but she was going to do it anyway. Patch seemed amused enough to sit back and watch her try with a familiar smirk on his face.

"Okay, but don't blame me when your ribs hurt even more in the morning."

"Y'know, I've had enough of your attitude tonight, mister."

"Okay, Mom." He teased making fun of her retort from earlier. Charlie rolled her eyes and backed up, preparing for a running start. She took a deep breath when she felt she was far enough back and ran, leaping at the last minute and reaching for the lowest rung. She knew she had aimed to low a second too late and felt herself falling down when a strong hand grabbed her wrist and another one grabbed under her other arm, hoisting her up onto the platform. Charlie let out a small moan as the pain in her chest became next to unbearable for a few moments and she doubled over on the platform and took a couple deep breaths. When she felt it passing she pointed at Patch.

"Don't. You. Dare. Say I told you so. Because I will punch you."

He put his arms up in a surrendering gesture. "I wouldn't dream of it. Come on, let's get to the roof."

She followed him to the roof and took in the city around her. They weren't on the tallest building by any means, just a small apartment complex but the view was still enough to take her breath away. The city lights blocked her from seeing any of the stars she would normally see at home but they kind of worked like stars themselves, all bright and twinkling. Once she had had enough of the view she turned to Patch who seemed to be oblivious to the view and was, instead, focused on her.

"So, is there any particular reason you're out tonight when you should be resting or do you just like to make things difficult for me?" He got right to the point.

"I'm mostly just out because my lawyer tried to tell me I couldn't be."

"What are you, fourteen?" Patch sighed. "Maybe your lawyer is trying to keep you safe. I say I have to agree with him. Let's not have the inexperienced, injured girl who just so happens to be being hunted by killers loose in the streets of Hell's Kitchen at night!"

"Please." Charlie rolled her eyes. "I've been taking care of myself and discovering secrets since I was thirteen. If anyone can figure this shit out, it's me. I can't just sit around and rely on them to figure it out when I know I could help."

Patch stared at her for a minute as if he was debating on arguing with her or not. He seemed to decide better of it and agree with her which was fine by Charlie since she had no plans of backing down. This was what she came out here to do.

"Okay, fair enough. But that still doesn't change the fact that you're injured right now. So. . ."

"Alright," Charlie began. "Your point may be valid. But I had to find you as soon as possible to-"

"Wait," Patch interrupted. "You had to find me?"

Charlie groaned. "I was getting to that part."

"Sorry. Continue."

"As I was saying, I needed to find you because I think you're my best bet at finding out who sent those men. You know what goes on in the underbelly of this city more than anyone else. "

"And why would you think that?"

"Seriously? That night I was in your apartment and you were all like 'Good things come with time, grasshopper' and now you're wondering why I seeked you out at night to ask for help? You literally fight these people every night. It's your job."

Patch tilted his head to the side. Charlie was quickly discovering what an annoying habit this was because it usually led to conversations she didn't want to have.

"To be honest, I don't know all that much. I briefed your attorneys on mo-"

"Well, brief me." Charlie crossed her arms over her chest. She was surprised that he wasn't fighting her more on this but she knew just how annoying she could be. Gen reminded her almost every day. Patch turned his head in her direction. If she could see the upper part of his face she was sure he would be glaring at her.

"Maybe another-"

"Now." Charlie snapped and Patch began to walk towards her and she quickly added feebly, "Please?"

He didn't stop until he was face to mask with her and Charlie became aware of just how isolated she was and how little she knew about the man in front of her. He was intimidating when he wanted to be. Although in his line of work that was probably a necessity.

"I really don't know much. But I think I may," He raised his finger. "Key word 'may', have a lead on who's organizing the operation. This is probably not the person who's signing the paychecks, but it's a start. I was actually planning on paying a visit to him tonight before I ran into you trying to organize a rescue mission by yourself."

Charlie didn't want to know what 'paying a visit' entailed but she felt hope for the first time in the last couple days. If Patch had a lead, then maybe this wasn't a lost cause. Maybe she could be saved.

"I wanna come," She blurted.

"No. You're hurt. Besides, even if you were fin-"

"Don't treat me like a child. I can do this. I don't have to fight, just let me snoop around a bit, I have a great eye. I bet I can get us another lead. Something for us to go off of after we're finished with this man. I wanna help, this is my fight."

Patch seemed to consider this for a moment. Charlie held her breath. This would all be a hell of a lot easier if Patch would agree to work with her. Together they would make a great team, what with his criminal fighting and her keen eye of observation. With Patch at her side she wouldn't have to worry about getting attacked anymore and could focus on discovering who's doing this. She shifted her camera from one shoulder to another, a nervous habit she had adopted in college.

"Okay, say I let you tag along. We would need to establish a few ground rules." He backed away from and began to pace the building.

"Anything."

He held up his fingers as he counted off his demands.

"One. We don't investigate this man until you are fully healed, or at least close to it."

Charlie groaned. "That could take weeks. I don't have that kind of time!"

"I'll keep an eye on you and make sure they can't hurt you. You'll be fine. Besides, you're healing quickly. If you would just take it easy a bit, you'll be a hundred percent better in a week."

Again, Charlie found herself wondering at his uncanny ability to know things he shouldn't but she figured she would discover the answers with time.

"Fine. Next?"

"I need to brief your attorneys on our agreement."

"And why exactly do you need to do that? I'd rather keep them out of it. What if they get caught in the crossfire? Or worse, what if they want to come along?" She pictured Matt attempting to follow into an ambush and getting destroyed by opponents he couldn't even see. She would not be responsible for that.

"They won't come along, but they need to know what you're doing and where we get any information so that they can help us in any way they can. In order to properly utilize them, we need to keep them updated."

"Whatever. What's the last demand?"

"You can't tell Gen any of this. At all. The less she knows the better."

Charlie was totally on board with keeping this among as few people as possible but she told Gen everything. The thought of lying to her face about where she was going and any new evidence relating to the case made her sick to her stomach. She knew why Patch was asking her to do it, Gen would be a hell of a lot safer if she was as far from this mess as possible, but not telling her made Charlie feel more isolated. Perhaps it was selfish to want to keep her informed, but Gen was her last link to home and lying to her severed that connection. Gen was someone she could vent to without worrying about her judging her decisions or cutting her off. She would always tell Charlie the truth regardless of feelings. And that honesty was what had kept them together for so long. Charlie was about to break their number one rule. She took a deep breath before nodding to Patch. He had stopped pacing and was staring at her expectantly.

"Okay. What now?"


	8. Chapter 8: The Beginning

Wow. I am sorry for posting this with such a huge gap. Film school has kicked my ass this semester. Now that I've figured it out I'll be trying to post a more often. Enjoy the chapter guys!

* * *

A week passed before Charlie heard a word from Patch. She attended work without issue from the vigilante or her attackers. In fact, she was actually beginning to relax.

Work went by smoothly and she quickly became attached to the two writers, Sarah and Drew. They had an interesting dynamic that seemed to turn off everyone besides Charlie. Sarah, with her short cropped blonde hair and hazel eyes, never seemed to want to do anything other than read and write. She was always buried in a book or surfing the web for new short stories by her favorite authors. In that way, Drew completed her. His chocolate skin contrasted hers completely but his personality was equivalent. The two would often find a corner of the office to sit and compare authors and new stories. Charlie had never seen two people quite in sync- if you excluded her and Gen, of course.

"Charlie, are you listening to us? Drew just had the most fantastic idea." Sarah had this way of making every article sound fantastic. Whether it actually _was_ was up to Charlie and Daniel's discretion. More often than not, Sarah and Drew gave them shit ideas, but still managed to make them sound great in every way, shape, and form.

"Sorry, what were you saying Drew?" Charlie snapped back to reality. The three of them sat in a small conference room in the office. Daniel was supposed to be here as well, helping plan this week's articles but instead he was outside taking photos of the skyline. He wasn't one for group projects, more of a lone wolf figure. He reminded Charlie of yet another frustrating individual in her life.

"I was saying that we should send Shayna and you to the installation of the recycling cans by 4th this Thursday," Drew's voice raised almost to a shout. "The city is _finally_ picking up the pace and getting caught up to the ages! It's worth commemorating!"

Charlie stared at him. Not that she didn't like Shayna, she got along fairly well with everyone at the office, but this was exactly the kind of ideas that her and Daniel typically had to shoot down. Usually, Daniel, debby-downer that he was, would immediately end the suffering of these types of ideas saving Charlie the trouble of ruining her budding friendships.

"Umm, well. . . ."

"I think it's a wonderful idea!" Sarah chirped.

Charlie muttered under her breath, "Of course you do. . ."

Sarah cocked her head to the side like a songbird, "What did you say?"

"Nothing. I just think that we probably have more important things to do than-"

"Recycling _is_ important. What's more important than saving the already dying and starving planet we happen to call home?" Drew stated.

"Well, it's just that we-"

"Charlie, we have to do what we can to help save this planet while it can still be _saved._ " Sarah piped in. Drew grinned at her and the exchanged one of the knowing glances that Charlie thought only 70 year old couples could do.

"If we don't act now, then the polar bears will become extinct, Charlie. _Extinct!_ " Drew announced, as if it was Charlie's personal fault that the ice was melting.

Charlie threw her hands in the air.

"Fine, fine, _fine._ I'll do the recycling thingy with Shayna."

Drew grinned as Sarah lifted her pen and marked their names on the calendar.

"Fantastic."

* * *

Charlie came home from work on Friday without incident. Gen and her had visited Nelson and Murdock's nearly every day and she found herself beginning to enjoy the company of the blind asshole of an attorney. When he calmed down and treated her like an adult and not a dysfunctional small child, he was actually rather enjoyable. She had had a coffee date with him Monday to discuss further leads from their 'masked associate'. Charlie made sure no one was aware that she was working with Patch. Her wounds only barely hurt now and her bruises were fading quickly. She knew Patch would come for her soon.

She opened the front door to the usual scene. Gen and Jabber were buried under a blanket watching some sitcom that Charlie wasn't familiar with.

"Yo, I picked up some chinese food. It's in the fridge if you're hungry." Gen shouted from the couch.

Tossing her keys onto the counter Charlie opened the fridge and pulled out the little box of food. It was still warm from earlier and didn't need to be heated up so she plopped next to Gen on the couch, careful to avoid smashing Jabber.

"What are you watching?" Charlie asked through a mouthful of rice.

"Soft core porn with a taste of bondage. They haven't reached it yet." Gen's eyes were glued to the television.

"Dude, this is definitely _Friends_."

"Same thing."

Charlie was fairly certain that there was no trace of porn of handcuffs in Friends but she didn't deny it. Glancing at Gen she realized just how lucky she was. Despite being hunted by a bunch of lunatics Charlie had a good life. She was doing something she loved alongside her best friend in a city of opportunity. She was just going through a rough patch. Or at least that's what she kept telling herself.

Charlie scraped the last of the rice from the container and threw it at Gen. It hit her with a satisfying thump causing her to hiss at Charlie like a cat. Smiling, Charlie went to her room determined to read a bit before getting some sleep. Patch may have more information soon and she needed to be ready.

Curled in bed Charlie was just beginning to doze off when she heard the tapping at her window. Her _tenth floor window_. She rolled off her bed and moved towards the window. All practical reasoning told her it was most likely Patch but she was nervous just the same. What if it was one of her hunters with the developed ability of wings or something?

It could happen.

Charlie grabbed her umbrella from next to the windowsill before pushing back the curtains and looking out.

Sure enough, it was her favorite masked vigilante. It had started to sprinkle since she had come home from work and there he stood silhouetted against the city background in a little mist cloud of his own. The rain got stuck in his stubble and began to trickle down his neck. Clearly Charlie was waiting too long because he was growing impatient.

"Look, are you going to stare at me all night or let me in because I have more important things to do than stand outside your window in the rain."

Charlie rolled her eyes and unlocked the window letting a soggy Patch in. _Mood killer,_ she thought shooting him a glare.

He moved to sit on her bed when she waved him off.

"Get your wet ass away from my bed." She pointed to a chair in the corner of the room. "If you want to sit go over there."

He sat down and stared at her for a beat. Charlie crossed her arms. When he finally spoke it was only to remark on her appearance.

"You look better. How are you healing?"

"Surprisingly well. You have news?" Charlie cut straight to the point. She was not about this game he was playing. There was no time for dawdling when her life was on the line. He must have sensed her impatience because he smiled.

"Eager aren't we?"

Charlie didn't answer.

"Okay, okay. You must have questions." Patch stood up and leaned against the doorframe. Gen's television show could be heard vaguely through the shut door.

"Yeah, you could say that! What's happening? Have you heard anything new? Followed the lead? Wait-" Charlie lifted her finger at Patch. "- you didn't go without me did you?"

He tilted his head at her. "I could have. I owe you nothing, this is something I could do on my own."

Charlie was about to argue when she realized he was right. He didn't necessarily need her to do anything but he promised. Somehow she knew though. Knew that he wouldn't lie or go behind her back. She could rely on him to help her survive this. They were in this together.

"Okay, you have a point. I apologize," she slumped on the bed. "What's up?"

"Regarding the man I told you about last week, I've been doing some research. His name is Charles Greene. I think he may have a part in leading the operation. I was planning on paying him a visit tonight. I came by to see if you were up for it."

"Of course I'm up for it! Let's go!" Charlie moved towards the open window.

"Hold on a second there, don't you think you need, oh I don't know. . . pants? Or at least a coat? It is raining outside"

Charlie became more aware of her pajamas and she glared at Patch.

"You literally have a _mask_ over your eyes. How the _hell-_ "

"Here," Patch moved towards her closet and sifted through the clothing until he found her raincoat and a pair of pants. He tossed them towards her. "This'll do."

"' _This'll do'_ " Charlie mocked as she picked the clothes off the ground. "Turn around patch-boy."

Patch sighed and turned to face the closet as Charlie pulled on the pants.

"Y'know, the benefit of this mask is that-"

"Shh," Charlie interrupted. "If you do not explain the mask, then we don't talk about it."

"That sounds like an excellent way to solve your problems, Charlie."

She zipped up her coat and shot him a glare. "I'm good to go, are you ready?"

"Always."


	9. Chapter 9: Mercenary

It took a few minutes for Charlie's eyes to adjust to the darkness in the apartment.

Patch was already on the move, checking rooms as he moved with grace. Charlie was consistently impressed with how agile he was. He seemed almost inhuman in his motions.

She made her way around the apartment using only her hands to feel for edges in the darkness. There was little light coming in from the windows and Charlie wondered how Patch was able to work so quickly in such low light. A few minutes past before he appeared next to her again.

"He's in the bedroom. Asleep." He whispered, cracking his knuckles. "I'm gonna bring him in here. Can you grab that chair?"

Charlie looked around in the darkness. She could make out lumps of furniture but definitely not a chair.

"What chair? I can't _see_ anything."

"Oh yeah, sorry." He moved to a lamp by the couch and flipped it on. Charlie grabbed the chair from the kitchen table and plopped it in front of Patch.

"There's your chair."

He grunted in response and left the room to grab the man. Charlie paced. She wasn't sure how she felt about the whole situation. On one hand, she was uneasy. So many things could go wrong. She could get hurt. Patch could get hurt. The man they were about to interrogate could have been preparing for a situation like this, he could have backup lying in wait. A self destruct button. A big dog.

On a moral side, she wasn't really positive of what Patch was capable of. What if the man didn't know anything and Patch becomes ruthless? Could she stand by and watch? Would she be able to stand up to Patch? Was she capable of hurting another being?

Even if it meant preserving herself?

Patch's fighting never bothered her before because the threat was always obvious. The attackers were always upon them before she had time to absorb what was happening. It was all self preservation, all black and white.

This was a man, sleeping in the comfort of his room. Sure, Patch had reasonable suspicion to believe he was harmful (or at least Charlie _hoped_ he did).

A thought began to dawn on her. _Oh my God, what if Patch wasn't helping at all and just needed someone to pin a murder on? An accomplice? A-_

Patch barged into the room, man in tow, before Charlie's mind could blow even more out of proportion. She pressed herself against the wall, trying to make herself as small as possible as Patch forced the man onto the chair and proceeded to duck tape him down.

The second the man was contained Patch turned to Charlie and gave her a nod. They discussed on the way over how this was going to go down. Patch would handle the interrogating and Charlie would search the apartment for any information that would lead to the discovery of more partners.

She ducked her head and slipped down the hall. She could hear Patch beginning to ask questions and the man denying any knowledge. She'd seen enough crime shows to know that no one ever confesses immediately.

The first door she reached is a simple bathroom. It's pristine, as if no one actually lives here. The smell of clorox reaches her nose and she holds her breath before closing the door behind her. _I doubt anything will be in there._

The next room is his bedroom. Pillows and blankets litter the floor. The contents of an entire bedside table are strewn around the ground. Signs of a struggle.

Charlie flipped on a light and began to pull apart drawers, looking for something, _anything._

And all she got was a whole lot of nothing.

Frustrated, she threw her hands in the air pushing a bunch of useless _Playboy_ magazines onto the ground. A muffled scream ricochet down the hall and Charlie regained her composure, remembering why she's here. She has a job to do.

She fled back to the hall and approaches the final door.

It's locked. She pulls a bobby pin from her hair and hurries to pick it. Yet another upstanding citizen skill she learned from her years in college.

The second the lock clicks open Charlie hears Patch shouting at the man. _Is he not worried about the neighbors?_ Regardless, it forces her to work quicker to preserve both herself and Patch.

The small room turns out to be a very cluttered office. She throws open drawers and skims every paper searching for a name or corporation that could link this man to her case. She's about to give up when her eyes fall on a manilla folder buried under sheets of tax information.

The cover reads:

Charlotte Evedyn

 _Shit._

She plops into the office chair, the folder grasped in front of her

This is it.

This is what she's been searching for. It's cool and light in her hands as if unaware of how it's contents could change her life. She peeled back the cover revealing a single sheet of paper with a picture of her clipped to it. The paper contains her birthday and other basic information regarding her appearance. A handwritten note at the bottom reads:

 _Agile, skilled date thief. Limited combat experience. Non-threatening. Easy target._

 _Eliminate at all costs._

Charlie's eyes linger on the final two words, semi insulted. She thought of the frail man sitting in the chair outside. _I bet I could take him in a fight._

The paper is signed at the bottom in some illegible handwriting that Charlie could barely make out. Attached to the paper is a receipt for a fairly large sum of money. She folded the paper and tucked it into her pants snug against her hip. The man strapped to the chair outside screamed cueing her that it was past time to go.

She darted down the hall and burst into the living room seeing Patch crouched over a heavily bleeding man.

"Tell me what you know, I won't ask again." Patch's voice was a low rumble. Malice laced his words. His back was to Charlie but she could tell that he was holding something in his right hand. A knife, probably.

"Patch, chill. I found something. We should get out of here. Someone must have heard us by now."

Patch made no move away from the man who was looking at him with pure terror.

" _Patch."_

"You go on ahead, I'll be right behind you." She could tell from his voice that he had no intention of leaving the man without answers.

"Patch, he's just a bloody mercenary. We aren't going to get anything else from him. He probably doesn't even know who paid him."

She reached forward and grabbed his arm taking no notice to how close she got to the man in the chair. This seemed to stir something in the feral man and Patch pulled back from the shaking man to address her.

"Are you sure?"

Charlie held up the folder.

"I wish there was more, but this seems to be all he has."

It happened in a split second. The man leapt up from the chair and had his arms around Charlie in an instant, pulling her towards the window they had used to gain access to the apartment. He heaved her onto the windowsill and pushed her so that she was leaning out the open window. The folder slipped from her hands and fluttered down to the bustling street eleven stories down. She struggled weakly against his grip and was able to kick him rather solidly on the chest warranting a grunt from him.

"Really, missy? Kick the man who is the only thing standing between you and death?" His bruised and bloody face broke out into a sadistic grin. Charlie regretted not grabbing a ski mask from her closet. He had been hired to kill her and it looked like he may finish the job after all.

Patch made a run for the window but the man quickly turned his focus to him instead.

"One more step and she goes flying."

 _God, this is cliche. I shouldn't have gotten so close. I really am just a liability._ Charlie cursed herself silently her mind working to think of a way out of this. From across the room she could see Patch's jaw shift and his hands clenching and unclenching. He was thinking too.

"What? You think I don't know how to get through a rope without a weapon. Come on, son. They didn't hire me for nothing. I'm the best of the best." The man stated smugly.

"And why did they hire the best of the best to hunt down an untrained woman?" Patch's head cocked to the side like a puppy. "Afraid she'd be too much to handle?"

"Originally, no. But we started to hear some rumors that a certain vigilante had shown interest in her well being. Had to up the game."

"Glad I'm worth the upgrade."

Charlie scoffed. The man turned his attention back to her.

"Something funny, cunt?"

It was all Patch needed. In a second he was across the room and pulling the man back into the apartment, Charlie in tow. A battle broke out and Charlie did what she did best- hid. She ran across the room to the kitchen island struggling to maintain her head. Suddenly a masked man popped up over the counter.

"You okay?"

"Is now really the time to be asking?"

He shrugged as the man charged across the apartment and leapt at him from behind. Patch side stepped him and he hit the counter, hard. Patch brought down his arm on the man's head and he went down like a rock, groaning.

"I feel like always a good time to make sure you're alright."

Charlie rolled her eyes and made her way to the window, looking down at the traffic far below.

"Dammit, that was our only lead. There was a signature at the bottom that I couldn't quite make out." Her unruly hair had fallen out of the tight braid she had put it in earlier and it began to swirl around her mixing with the her sweat and the cool rain. A hot tear ran down her cheek.

Patch came up behind her and placed a hand on her back and the other wiped the tear from her cheek. She looked up at him and for a moment everything seemed okay.

"There will be other leads. No need to waste your tears on this."

"Easy for you to say, you do this for a living. I'm just trying to make it out so I can continue with my life."

Patch smiled sadly at her. He looked like he wanted to continue saying something but he stopped.

"We need to work on your fighting skills."

" _Skills?_ I think that word implies that I have some to begin with."

"Exactly, tomorrow, we start your training."

"Excuse me?"

Patch released her and moved back towards the fallen man before replying.

"Can't have you getting yourself captured again. Makes it look bad on my part."

"And how is that exactly." She crossed her arms and glared at him from across the room as he crouched by the man ignoring her comment before whispering into the man's ear.

"Drop this job. Or else I will find you. And kill you."

He got up slowly and made his way back to Charlie.

"Come on, let's get you back home. You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow."


End file.
